Hear 3 schools talk about how they are developing the leadership of staff and pupils.

Earlston High School will share how they are using a coaching approach to develop leadership capacity. DHT Damian Hayes will joined by Ross Mauder, one of Earlston’s Cluster Head Teachers.

Empowering teachers to lead learning: a professional discussion

We are several years down a journey towards more effective approaches to leading professional learning. We began with the research summarised in the 2014 Sutton Report on ‘What makes great teaching’. This agreed with our staff feedback and suggested that we needed a lot less top down ‘sit-in-the-hall’ training and a greater focus on staff professional autonomy, research led practice, and repeated classroom level interventions. Four years ago we started by asking all staff to lead their own learning by undertaking a practitioner enquiry. This was supported by a number of colleagues who did the SCEL Teacher Leadership training; we used their model. It was also supported by an authority led focus on coaching which has meant that more than a third of our staff, including PSAs have completed an intensive diploma. For a number of years, we have also encouraged discussion and research through sharing practice sessions and a book review prize. Along the way we won a GTCS award for ‘Excellence in Professional Learning’ and ‘SEIC Research School’ status which encouraged us that we were on the right path. During the pandemic we offered every member of staff their own choice of professional reading and hugely increased our sharing practice opportunities. This year we have brought all this together and aligned it with PRD.  Staff are offered a choice: they can either continue with our traditional model of INSET and twilight led CLPL following school priorities; or they can opt to lead their own training through an incremental coaching programme tightly focused on their practitioner enquiry and supported by their professional reading.  

Developing leadership has been a particular focus at Greenfaulds High School in recent years. Head Teacher, Linda Park, previously Head Teacher at Calderhead High School in Shotts, will lead on the following :  

Leadership for Sustainable Change                                                                                       

Change is an inevitable part of ‘the day job for school leaders’ and an aspect of school life which is often viewed with trepidation. This presentation focusses on the leadership journey – across two very different schools – where the culture of the school is fundamental to the school’s capacity to embrace and manage change.

In Beath High School, there has been a particular focus on pupil leadership.

Pupil Leadership and Equity at Beath High School

Beath High School is committed to providing an equitable learning experience for all young people, and over the past three years has been on a journey of developing and implementing a range of interventions and supports to mitigate against the impact of poverty. Much of this has been led by our 'Equity Captains' - young people from S1-S6 who volunteer to help peers within their own school community. By drawing on their own experiences they have ensured this support is both appropriate and discreet. As well as providing practical assistance to a number of initiatives, they have also developed leadership skills through organising events, speaking at assemblies and promoting the support available within our school community and beyond.

Input will be from Depute Rector Nicola Barker-Harrison; Ruth Meikle PT Equity and The Equity Captains -  Kian Cook and Elle Imrie.